Recently, several multi-loft golf clubs have been introduced on the market. Comparing these with this type of club designed in the past, disadvantages continue to be incorporated. A fastener or rod near the bottom of the club face is being used as a pivot to change loft. Pivoting in this manner, creates offset in the bottom leading edge of the club face, requiring compensation of each swing. (See abstract). Further, it was observed, the pivot fastener on a recent model was lowered to the bottom of the club face. While reducing the offset, this design introduces interference with the ground by adding an additional length to the sole of the club face as a projection at the heel. This projection can make initial contact with the turf, spoiling the shot by digging in and closing the club face with the uneven force on the sole; especially on a side hill, downward lie. This problem is alleviated by the pivoting of the club head above the hitting area, as in the invention presented herein. This method leaves the club head standard and its surface intact; void of obstructions, openings, grooves, pins, splines, springs, etc; which upon impact, all manner of debris can be forced into any moving part . . . being compounded by wear. The design described herein, dramatically eliminates this problem area.
It is the intent also of this design, to produce a multi-loft golf club that has the fewest number of moving parts, a two point positive clamping arrangement, shafts without need to adjust for length, a club design which compensates for wear and a golf club when debris is present, can be seen and brushed off. Further, this invention allows for a change in the number of positions, on the selector plate. A complete set of club positions can be provided on one club. More than one club that can be shared is favored, because appropriate weight and shaft length for each club will bring play closer to the norm.
This invention also features a constant upright lie. (The angle that the shaft makes with the ground when addressing the ball). The upright lie brings the ball closer to the player's feet; making all shots play similar . . . from the long shots, to the putter. Since the selector plate is oriented perpendicular to the ground plane, and the shaft hozel is also in a vertical plane, the shaft can be bent to an upright lie. Choking down on the grip, for in between shots, does not disturb the upright lie. Also, the shaft length can vary with the height of the player.
The fairway wood club heads are also adaptable to the concept herein; for example, a prelofted three wood head of 16 degree loft, can be closed incrementally to 12 degrees for a lofted driver, or closed further to 8 degrees for a less lofted driver. The three wood being used directly on the fairway, while the drivers are used with teed-up balls, where the slight cocking of the club head causes no interference of the trailing bottom edge of the club head with the ground. The club positions on the selector plate are reduced; resulting in less weight above the club head hozel.
Since the number of positions can be reduced or increased, various club set combinations can be produced. For example, a four position selector plate can be used on four iron clubs; a super lofted wedge club with . . . 68 degree, 64 degree, 60 degree and 56 degree. A second club could contain . . . a pitching wedge, 9,8, and a 7 iron. A third club could contain . . . a 6,5,4, and a 3 iron, while a fourth club could contain . . . a 2,1, driving iron, and a putter. The same four position selector plate can be used for the above wood club if desired. This five club set can easily service two players by sharing. Again, it is apparent that using more than one multi-loft club, immeasurably enhances the playability by tailoring the weight of the club head and the length of the shaft for each club grouping. Also, the club head sole in reference to the ground is closer to normal than if just one multi-loft club is used.